


Everything Will Escape

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Coulson is fascinated with Skye and that is all there is to it, Coulson nicknames, F/M, First moves, Flirting, Friendship, Humor, In the Workplace, Inappropriate Behavior, Love, Mention of the Cellist, New York City, Past Relationships, Shipscuses, fears, kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 12:05:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1940418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coulson and Skye get closer as they work together under the new SHIELD and it makes them consider the nature of their relationship past, present and future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Present

**Author's Note:**

> I made a Skoulson soundtrack. This title is inspired by "Letters From the Sky" by Civil Twilight.
> 
> https://8tracks.com/lastcenturygirl/the-beginning-and-the-end

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye begins to question the changing nature of her relationship with Coulson.

Just one of many comfortable silences between them.

No big deal, just working next to the boss, the Big D (new SHIELD, new nickname), they were looking over files for potential recruits, shoulder to shoulder at the holotable in his office at the Playground.

No big deal.

Except, he did it again.

I mean, she was right, right? This was a new gesture of his. 

So.

Her hand would open the file, a little push would flip the front open. Then she'd start on the recruitment brief, point out some detail about the prospect, and he would reply with a comment of his own, either providing another angle she hadn't considered, or mostly, to get her thoughts on what she had.

And when he would start to skim the file, his lone finger would scroll the file or would slide to the next page, but that finger would just barely brush her hand in the process.

Did he not expect her to notice it, or to even say something?

Similarly, she couldn't remember exactly, when it had exactly, started, but he started standing exactly right next to her when they reviewed the files and she could smell his aftershave, and she had worked really hard to be good at this and his aftershave had not helped her with that.

At all. But, she'd learned to deal with it. After awhile she didn't really even notice it as much, it was just him.

Maybe that was his problem. Maybe, she thought, he was just getting too comfortable.

"So, this is another ex-SHIELD at the CIA, but, I have audio confirmation that she was one of the agents that sided with Rogers at the Triskelion," Skye started.

"Sharon Carter," he said. "I've read her file," he swept his finger across the desk.

It happened again, so Skye said, with teasing snark: "Hey there, Sir Hands a Lot."

"Excuse me?" he asked, looking back at her.

Skye stared back at him, not having any of it.

But he just looked perplexed in return.

"I have a question for you," she said, putting a hand on her hip. Her posture change didn't go unnoticed by Coulson.

"Okay," he said passively.

"Have you ever dated," she said, teasing out a theory. "Someone who wasn't connected to SHIELD?"

"Skye," he said, completely unprepared for the conversation to take this turn.

"I'm serious," she said.

"Of course I have," he said, breathing in. "What does that have to do with any of this?"

He said it very sharply. It was clearly meant to get her right to the point.

"So, you met a normal person, and then asked her out?"

"Yes," he said, annoyance just slipping through at the edge of the word.

"How did you meet her?" Skye asked, raising an eyebrow.

He crossed his arms, hesitated. 

"And don't say Audrey Nathan, because you met her as a SHIELD agent," she said. 

The quick turn of his head and his frown made her think she should probably not continue.

"You asked me to read your profile," she said. "Remember?" 

She had a point to make, and she cared about him, about them, enough to make it.

His eyes were pointed at the holodesk, concentrated. He was thinking about something, turning it over. 

"Is this because I touched you a moment ago?" he finally asked after he connected the dots.

"Not just a moment ago, but several times, and you stand really, okay, SUPER, close to me."

"I'm not doing it on purpose," he said apologetically, stepping back. "I'll be more careful."

"If you don't want to be more careful," she said, stepping forward, "I'm okay with that."

He was frowning deeply, trying to determine if he was being mocked.

"But," she continued, more softly. "I'd like to know what I'm working with here."

Walking around to the front of the desk, he sat down in one of the plush guest chairs, and gestured for her to take the other.

She followed him around and slowly sat.

Leaning back on the chair, he was looking away, his hand on his lower lip.

"When I first met you, do you know what I said?" 

She shook her head, but he wasn't looking at her. "No."

"I said she's an 0-8-4, and, it's not so much the words, but, I distinctly remember the feeling, " he said, smiling. "I was thrilled."

Skye narrowed her eyes at him. Where was he going with this?

"Do you know what it's like to be able to pull up a file on anyone, anywhere in the world, Skye? Know everything about them in an instant? If you really wanted to, you could probably find out what they had for breakfast that day. And then," he said, looking over at her intensely. "This person shows up in your life, in my life," he added, pursing his lips. 

"And you don't know anything about them. Anything at all."

"Well, no, not exactly," she answered. "But, I can see your point."

"It was one of the most exciting things that's ever happened to me," he said, leaning forward. 

Skye's eyes went wide. 

"Again, sir," she said. "What is that?"

"I have no framework for," he stopped and put his forearms on his legs. "This," he said, and gestured between them with his hand.

"Exactly my point," she said. "It's all connected to your work, and now I'm connected to your work, and I just want to make sure I'm not like..."

"Like what?" he asked, tipping his head towards her.

"Like Reyes," she sputtered, "Or, Soft Spot for Truffaut."

His mouth was opened slightly, he was searching again. "No," he said rasping. "You're not. Those initial feelings that I had, they've...only persisted. The way you see the world, how you see it differently, I've been telling you all along. And," he said, shrugging, "I'm a profiler. If I don't have the data, I'm always trying to get closer."

"Just what kind of data are you looking for?" she smirked at him.

"I want to see the world the way you do," he answered. Just a little too quickly.

"That's pretty flattering," she smiled, looking down at her hands. "I'm not used to guys wanting to get inside my head, if you know what I mean."

"Let's not get carried away," he said.

"No worries, Big D," she said, leaning back and locking her hands around her knee.

"That's not going to work."

Skye rolled her eyes, "Sounds like it's a perfect fit to me."

"It's unprofessional. A.C. was bad enough," he said standing and went back behind the desk.

She stood up and leaned over the desk, looked at the open files on the screen, bit her lower lip. Back to work.

"What's wrong with Director Coulson?" he said glancing over at her.

She smiled, drew in her breath, let it out slowly while she stared at him. "What makes you think the D stands for Director?"

He squirmed a little under her gaze, fighting a smile, his eyes fixed on the desktop.

"Work," he ordered.


	2. Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson talks with May about what's on his mind.

"May," he said, glancing over at her.

She stopped her morning Tai Chi to briefly make eye contact and with him and continued.

"You ever date someone who wasn't SHIELD?"

May just rolled her eyes.

It was too early for a conversation like this. She had just started her routine less than 10 minutes ago and had a ways ahead and she had a schedule to keep. He was going to cut into it. She could just tell.

"It's just, it came up the other day. Skye mentioned it. I think she was profiling me," he said slowly realizing that.

Coulson watched the corner of her mouth turn upwards slowly.

"I'm glad you're amused," he said, slightly aggravated. "But, it's a real point."

She extended her hands, took in a deep breath and swung one hand in a defensive gesture, pushed with the other.

"I don't want to make the same mistakes," he said, looking down. 

She leaned away from him, raised her eyebrows.

"It means something." He shrugged when she didn't do anything. "Okay, well, whatever. Thanks."

May sighed and then lowered her hands.

"I think we both know what it means," she finally spoke as he was starting to walk away.

He waited for a moment.

"What?" he asked over his shoulder.

"She came along when you felt lost. You knew you were different, but not why."

"Yes," he said, thinking, agreeing.

"When you resigned from Project: TAHITI, were you thinking of getting out? Leaving SHIELD?"

She had never asked him before, but now, it fit. Seemed like the right question. She walked to the shelf on the wall to get her water, unscrewed the top.

He looked up at her, held his breath for a moment.

"Yes."

"Thought so," she said, took a drink. 

"Sort of lost that opportunity," he said dryly, walking back towards her. "And now the things that I wanted, I'm not even sure why I did, May." 

She thought he looked mostly frustrated, but also a little sad.

"You know, a part of this, for me," she said. "Has been letting go of the old Phil." 

His face turned apologetic, as May wasn't given to being sentimental.

"To say that was hard would be an understatement," she continued. "But, you are different." 

He smiled slightly, gratefully, looking over at her.

"I just want to know what's real," he said softly. "All of my relationships, May..."

He was trying to express something, but struggling.

"Hey," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "In this line of work, we give up things. We choose to give them up and it does have a cost, but we signed on knowing that."

"You know that more than most of us," he replied. "But, I knew things. About everyone. I was Level 7. I knew things about people's things."

"You weren't Level 7 when you began," she replied.

"No, no, I wasn't. I was just a kid out of high school. And my entire adult life has been spent inside of SHIELD."

"Then try to remember what it felt like before SHIELD."

"It's possible that some of those memories aren't even real," he answered.

He was worrying. It was on his face. But was it about him or about someone else?

"You can't choose that for her," she said. "If that's what you're worrying about."

"She doesn't have to end up like me. None of them do. Simmons, Fitz, Trip..."

"That's their choice. All you can do is make them an offer. And rebuilding this," she said, "might require even more sacrifice." 

Once she said it, she started examining it herself. What were they even attempting here?

"Are you willing to give that up?" she said after a long pause.

"No," he answered quickly.

"Do you even know what it is you'd be giving up on?" 

"There are things out in the world," he said. "Ordinary people aren't prepared for it. Even with the Avengers, Thor's people, there are still things that they can't do, places they can't be. SHIELD exists to answer that call. No, I won't give that up. That's one thing I am sure about."

"Good," she said, smiling. "Skye would say the same."

"Yes," he said. "Yes, she would."

May grabbed her towel and flipped it over her shoulder.

"It makes sense you'd want to understand the why, Phil. Your background lends itself to that type of thinking. One of the benefits of being a specialist is that sometimes you get to shut your brain off and punch things." She grinned over at him.

"I haven't punched anything in awhile," he said, kind of pathetically.

"You might want to think about whether being behind a desk that much suits a guy like you."

She started walking away, he followed behind her.

"Of course, I could always drag out the mats, we could go a few rounds. Offer still stands."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you still here?" He wanted to ask everyone that question now.

"I still like orders," she shrugged. "From the right sort of people. Getting back in the field? I'm definitely not going behind a desk again."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he smirked.

"You can put that in my profile," she smiled coyly.


	3. Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Coulson in NYC. And also because I have no willpower.

"I'm going into the city now," he said, blurting it out.

Skye looked up and over at him from across his desk, right smack dab in the middle of a thought, thankyouCoulson. 

"Congratulations." 

"I could maybe use some help with that," he said, after she had looked back down and promptly went back to whatever she was in the middle of.

"How so?" she asked curiously, an amused expression on her face.

Ever since their conversation a week ago, he'd been acting off. Keeping his distance, now that was to be expected. But, he'd been asking her strange, somewhat personal questions, and while she knew he was an excellent observer and listener, this was yet another new thing.

He didn't answer her back right away.

"We have a lot of work to do," she said, looking back down.

"I know," he said. "But, I'm asking. For myself."

"Okay," she said slowly, nodded. "Just let me wrap things up here, Big D."

He winced. 

"Thanks."

 

****

They'd parked Lola someplace safe and taken the train into the city. 

Walking around the streets together, Skye felt almost ordinary again. 

It was cool, without the chill. Just a nice Fall day in New York.

She'd watched his face a lot since they arrived. There was tension in it. She knew why he wanted her here now. It wasn't just any city. It was the city he had died in.

This was deeply personal, and he had invited her to be a part of that. It was pretty touching, actually.

His hands were in his pockets and he looked more tightly wound than usual. Coulson was a cool little cucumber, but he was a little frayed on the edges here.

"Hey, A.C.," she said, coming up besides him. "You alright?"

"Mostly," he said, looking down at his shoe for a moment.

It occurred to her then, that Coulson could be awfully boyish at times. This was definitely one of them. Like, he seemed very young or very new to things.

They both looked up at the same time, saw Avengers Tower high up in the distance.

"You thinking about doing that today?" she asked.

He squinted against the glare of the glass. "Not really, no."

Guess it was going to be in small steps. He'd have to tell the Avengers he was alive some other time. Coulson seemed to be taking very small steps these days. He was being more cautious than usual, and she attributed it to the weight of the enormous task Fury had left him with.

"You ever strolled through Central Park?" he asked, changing the subject entirely.

"No," she said. "Never done anything in NYC."

He started walking again.

"Where else have you been?" he asked. "Besides LA and Austin. I mean, before SHIELD?"

More of his fact-finding questions. Like, he was trying to build a file on her. Oh hey, wait. His 0-8-4 thing from the other day. Collecting data. Okay, she got it.

"Not much to talk about," she said. "Cross country in a van, lots of gross gas stations and roadside rest stops."

He didn't look terribly impressed.

"What about you?" she asked. "What's the coolest place you went before SHIELD?"

"I don't remember," he said. "We lived in Boston, me and my mom. Didn't have much," he said, waiting for the light to change as they stepped out into the street. "We were pretty fixed in our place. Until high school. Then, I graduated and you know the rest."

"Read the file," she smiled.

"But, you don't have a file," he said.

"Just the way I like it," she grinned back at him.

"Incidentally, me too."

She stared over at him, he just raised his eyebrows, that slightly smug expression on his face.

They reached the park and stopped talking. Skye felt like something happened as they passed from the invisible boundary of the city into the parkland. Like the whole world got quiet. And that New York was somehow, far off, even thought it was right there.

It was weird and magical and she caught him watching her expression. It brought back a memory. When they'd sat outside of the motel in LA, after she'd told him that she'd rigged the hard drive to let them track Ward and Garrett.

Well, since they were helping each other out here.

"What's that face about?"

"Mine?" he asked, mirthful.

"Yes."

"Just watching the way you see things," he continued. "Your perceptions. Matching them against my own."

She stepped slightly closer to him. "What do you see now?" she said, looking into his eyes.

He traced all over her face with his own gaze.

"The future."

He put his hand out in front of him.

Skye studied him for a moment, then slipped her hand into his.

They walked.

****

"Before I even opened the door, I knew all about her," he said. His hand slid around the top of the cocktail glass. "I already had a version of her in my mind. Before I ever met the real thing."

"Wow," Skye said, pulling her drink closer to her. "That's..."

"What I did. That's what profilers do. It was necessary because of Daniels."

They were sitting together in a posh neighborhood bar, in a table out in the back with a patio. Coulson had used his charm school methods on the hostess to get them the table, even with the wait. He still was on the fence if they were going to stay there or not. He was apparently choosy about these things. 

She was just happy to enjoy his company and have a real conversation that wasn't about SHIELD; it was about him. About his life. They'd had those before, in brief, usually with something ridiculous going on around them. She found herself thinking as much as she liked him as her boss, she could get very used to this version of Coulson.

"So," she said, leaning forward. "You fell in love with her file first. Kind of romantic."

"If you're squeezing one eye shut and tossing out the pathetic parts," he said, picking up the drink. "Maybe."

"But she liked you. I mean, obviously."

"I knew what she would like, Skye."

He dropped that and let it hang between them.

"Yeah. I wouldn't like that. If I knew," she took a delicate sip of her cocktail. She had ordered something fancy instead of the usual bar party stuff she was familiar with.

"Did she?" she asked looking up at him. "Know?"

"No, I never," he started, shrugged. "It never came up."

"You feel guilty about this, right?" she asked.

"It wasn't a good idea, in hindsight," he said.

"Good," she said, took a longer sip of her drink.

She could see he was feeling slightly defensive but was also enjoying the fact she was giving him a hard time. Make up your mind, Coulson.

"Well, I approached Miles to mentor me, and then I mentored him, if you know what I mean," she said, batting her eyelashes.

Coulson almost snorted his cocktail.

Skye started laughing at him.

"All true," she said, glad her little confession had lightened the mood.

"I don't think any of us know what we're doing. Do we?" she asked.

"Maybe we're not supposed to?" he said. "Maybe that's the fun of it? The discovery."

Skye imagined for a moment he might be talking about her.

****

They ended up somewhere else for dinner. Skye also suspected he was trying to stretch the day out. He said it was a place he'd visited before the Battle of New York. He knew the owners and they of course didn't know he had died and so were happy to pick up just where they'd left off. Tiny little Italian place and Coulson was eating everything like he'd just tasted it for the first time, so of course, they kept bringing out more.

That was pretty amazing in and of itself. But seeing him relaxed, unwound, talking, just...being. He needed this and at some point, he'd gotten very far away from it. He'd actually made a genuine grin, it was another new thing, all toothy and lacking in any polish, not like the smiles or smirks he usually gave. She also thought he might be a little drunk, because they kept bringing wine, too.

She had worked really hard to make herself a place here, and now it felt like this might be pulling at a thread. She really wasn't ready to tug on that, just yet. They had so much work to do. Just stop looking at him.

But, it was nice to see. Nice to know that this side of him existed. And now she had proof.

"I'm driving Lola," she said, as they stepped out onto the sidewalk later.

"I'll be sober by the time we get there," he said. "Don't get your hopes up."

"One more drink, then?" she said, smiling over at him.

He stopped and stared at her.

"I would," he considered. He considered a lot of things. "But, I think the Director is calling this one."

"I approve," she said, leaning into his side.

His arm came around her shoulder as they started walking again.

"It's not like you wouldn't just do what you wanted, anyway," he said.

"Hey, not really the case," she said. "I follow orders," she shrugged.

"Flawless ones," she said, bossy-toned.

"You mean YOURS," he said.

"Aw, A.C.," she said, laughing, putting her hand on his chest, "You think I'm flawless."

"You're definitely not driving Lola."

****

The subway was crowded, and they were pressed together, standing in a few places, before they were on the last train that would put them outside the city.

They really hadn't said much to each other and kept their eyes everywhere else but on each other, listening to the sounds of the train tracing over the tracks. 

Their proximity to one another had made the thought of saying anything potentially charged, but they had commandeered a pole, and their hands were holding onto it, one stacked over the other, just touching.

Skye thought that was a good enough ending to this strange place their relationship had arrived. The other thing was too...

The train jostled and Skye put her hand against Coulson's chest as a buffer, she could feel him breathing beneath the layers. Her eyes drifted up to look at him and met his staring at her. 

He looked out towards the city, as it was moving away in the distance. They were about to leave the island. He was wrestling again.

Well, since they were helping each other out and all.

"Last chance."

He didn't say anything quippy back.

He just kissed her. 

And that was also new.


End file.
